


How It Should Have Been

by karyv_mp



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Happy Ending, Hurt, Rewriting season 4, Soulmates, confession of feelings, falice - Freeform, many scenes we didn’t saw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-10
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:20:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25828840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karyv_mp/pseuds/karyv_mp
Summary: This is the way I wished everything should've happened with Falice, starting with episode 3x15 and then some of the things we deserved to see. I hope you like this.
Relationships: Alice Cooper/FP Jones II
Kudos: 9





	How It Should Have Been

"It doesn't matter now, it's over. I'm sorry."

The tears are streaming down her face, she was going to tell him the truth about the farm, about Charles, but now?   
What's the point?   
He doesn't even consider her as the mother of one of his children. He doesn't exist for him, she knows that he thinks that Charles is dead but still...he didn't even remembered him. They mean nothing to him, how did she open her heart for him again, hoping for a different result? She should've known better, this always ends with her heart broken.

She laughs a little, she wipes away her tears with her hands and looks at him one last time. "Of course it doesn't, it never will"  
"Alice..."  
"Don't...you said plenty already" she takes a step closer to him "I just want you to know one more thing, when you realize that Gladys is back in town only for the wrong reasons, when you realize that she doesn't give a crap about you, I'm not going to be here, waiting for you" "I'm...I'm done" He looks shocked, and he's not sure what to say, and he doesn't need to say anything because it looks like she's not done talking.  
"That's why I'm moving in with the farm, I'm tired of this town, of the people, of everything" " You don't need to do-" "I do" she cuts him off "There's nothing else in this town for me" "What about Betty? You're her mom, she needs you." He softly asks, new tears forming in her eyes as she softly smiled "Even Betty doesn't need me anymore, nobody does" "And I know that Jughead will take care of her, so I'm not worried about that" 

"But I do...I do need you...I do love you..."  
It's the only thing he wants to tell her, but he can't.

"But congratulations though, you got what you always wanted, you are going to live on Elm Street, that was your dream, I hope you'll enjoy it" And with that she turns around and walks to the door, she is going to open it when he speaks "What do you mean with the wrong reasons, do you...know something?" She sighs and closes her eyes, more tears falling from her eyes, she knows about the drugs, Charles told her but it's not her place to tell him, she doesn't turn around, she just rests her forehead against the door before she speaks "Just...don't trust her with everything, specially with your kids."

And with that she's out of his office slamming the door as he fell to his chair, he let her go again, he runs his hands through his face, wiping his tears that he hadn't realized had fallen. 

How the hell is he going to fix this now? Her words echoing through his mind "when you realize Gladys is back in town only for the wrong reasons", "don't trust her with everything, especially with your kids." He repeats to himself that he's doing this for his kids, and he keeps repeating it to help him from having a breakdown.   
He doesn't know what he's going to do.

——————

He had barely seen her, he knows from Betty that's she's still living with the farm, but that's it, he doesn't know if she's okay, if she needs something, he thought about calling her but he's sure she's not going to answer.

Alice is trying her best to help her son, she knew that the goal was to get closer to Edgar, that's why she moved with the farm, so that they thought that she was full in with them, and it's working.  
She asked Charles to keep an eye on Betty, even if she trust her and knows that she is very intelligent, she still gets worried about her, and more because she knows that she's living in the same house as Gladys, and she doesn't trust that woman...at all.

——————

Betty shares with the Jones family that her mother is engaged with Edgar and FP is sure that his heart stopped beating for a minute.

The next time he see her is at Pop's, waiting for her order, she's wearing a floral dress, she looks so carefree. She smiles at Pop and thank him for her order and turns around, her smile fading away the moment she lock eyes with him. She tries to ignore him and walk to the door but he blocks the way "Hi...I'm...I haven't seen you in a long time" he looks at her with a guilty face, she sighs "Yeah, I've been busy" her voice so cold and sounding so nonchalantly "And how have you been? Uhm...Betty told me that you're engaged, is that true?" She roll her eyes at that "That's none of your business, you move on with your life, so did I, and you don't have to do this okay? You don't have to pretend that you care for me, I'm pretty sure that there are a lot of other things more important for you, so please stop" "But..." "I need to go now, goodbye" He looks at the floor and softly nods, she rushes outside because if she stays a minute longer she knows that she will start crying, and the only thing he does is watch her go...again.

Charles is waiting for her outside in his car in the corner of the parking lot, he looks inside the diner and she's there talking with someone that he doesn't know, the next thing he sees is her mother storming outside the diner and walking fast to get to his car, she gets inside and closes the door, she handles him the bag with food with a smile "Thanks" "You're welcome honey" "Who's that guy that you were talking to?" She swallows hard and smiles a little "No one important, we should go now before someone could see us..." "Uhm okay" he knows that there's something she's not telling him, her face changed the moment he mentioned that guy, but he stops thinking about it and drive away with her.

——————

The musical arrives and everyone is invited, he hopes he can at least see her again, but she's not there.   
Knowing that everyone will be at the musical, Alice pretends to be a little sick so she could skip it, and she spends that time working with Charles, trying to discover new clues that could help them with the case.

——————

After some eventful things, FP found the truth about Gladys, and Alice's words are echoing through his mind again...she knew, she knew and didn't told him...

Gladys went back to Toledo after that, Jellybean stayed with him this time, he finally have his kids in his life, but why does he feel so lonely?, in a house that still feels like her house.

He asks Betty about her, he wants to contact her, talk to her, but Betty tells him that she doesn't know where she is, that Kevin told her that she "ascended" with the rest of the farm, and his heart drops.

——————

He feels like his life is completely falling apart after he finds out that Fred passed away. He doesn't know where Alice is or if she's okay and now his best friend is gone, the one that always had his back no matter what, gone, forever...

He has been working long shifts trying to find where the farm is but he hasn't been successful, he's planning on staying late that day but Jughead called him and said that he needs to come home because there's something they need to tell him.

He arrives home 30 minutes later to find Betty and Jughead with a young man that he doesn't recognize but look very familiar for some reason. Is not until the moment that he lock eyes with the man that he realizes who he is, those blue eyes...

"Dad, there's someone you need to meet" Jughead said as he and Betty stand up with Charles by their side. FP doesn't know how to react, is he really the person he think he is? But he's supposed to be dead, right? He needs a confirmation but he's to shocked to even talk.

Charles is the one that starts talking "Hi, I'm Charles Smith, I work with the FBI, I-" Before he gets the chance to keep talking, FP interrupt him "You...you're... you're Charles?" FP managed to say, tears forming in his eyes "I thought...you...you were dead" Betty and Jughead look at each other as Charles clear his throat before he continues to speak. "I pretended to be dead to keep myself safe from Chic." FP gulps and takes a step closer to him, tears start to spill from his eyes, he cups Charles face with his hands and looks at him directly in his eyes. "You're my son" "I am" Charles nods and smiles, FP smiles too and pulls him into a tight hug "I can't believe you're alive" FP said while he's embracing his son for the very first time.

They pulled away slowly from each other and FP shakes his head, smiling from ear to ear "You have your mother's eyes, but you have my ears" FP said and Charles chuckles "Yeah, I know, Alice told me the same thing."

FP furrow his eyebrows in confusion "Have you talked to her before?" Charles clear his throat again "I uhm...yes, that's why I'm here actually" "We need to tell you something about my mother, it's better if you sit down Mr. Jones" Betty said.

They walk to the living room and sit down "Is everything alright with your mother? Do you know where she is?"Fp asks worried, Betty and Charles share a look " Yes, she's fine and no, we don't know where she is yet, but we are working on that" "You asked me if I talked to her before and the answer is yes, actually...she's been working with me as an undercover agent, she's helping us taking down the farm, that is actually an organ harvesting cult, she had provided us with so much information so we can finally catch them, but first we need to find where they are" FP's mouth is open wide "She always gets in contact with me every 5 or 6 days but now she hasn't contact me in more than two weeks, we are getting worried that they discovered that she is an undercover agent, that's why I'm asking for your help as the sheriff so we cand find her ASAP."

FP nods inmediatedly "Of course, I'll help you in any way I can." he then looks at Betty and Jughead "Do you guys know about this?" "No, we didn't, Charles told us everything before you got here" Jughead says. FP looks back at Charles "So...Alice was never brainwashed?" "No, she wasn't, I got in contact with her last summer, I knew Polly was already a part of the farm, so after I explained everything to her, I asked her if she wanted to help me and she said yes."

"So she knew about you since last year and didn't tell me anything..." FP looked to the floor so they couldn't see the new tears in his eyes "She couldn't tell you FP, she was under oath, she couldn't even told Betty about this" Charles said as he lays a hand on his father's shoulder.

"I know I know, is just... I wish I knew so I could've help her, I wish she hadn't gone through all of that alone" " I know you would've loved to help her before, but you can help her now, okay?" FP looks up to see Charles smiling a little "Okay" FP said and returned the smile. 

——————

The long shifts aren't over, he's not going to stop until Alice is back and safe, so he keeps looking into the files that Charles gave him about the farm, he had barely slept the last couple of weeks and Jughead and Betty are starting to get worried about him.  
Jughead is the one that brings it up first, he wanted to talk to him that morning but FP left the house really early so he goes to his office to talk to him.

He knocks on his door and FP looks up "Hey" he says and then he keeps looking at the papers in front of him. "Hey, I uhm, wanted to talk to you" Jughead said, FP looks up again and furrow his eyebrows "Is everything alright?" he asked "Yeah is just that...we're worried about you dad, you barely sleep at night and you spend all day here, I know that we're trying to find Alice but this isn't healthy, you need to rest" Jughead said in the most calming way posible.

"I'm gonna rest when Alice is back from that cult and safe with us" FP said taking off his glasses and throwing them at his desk, he sighs and runs a hand through his hair.

"Dad, is...is there something going on between you and Alice?" Jughead says softly, FP swallows and looks at the floor "I-..." he just shakes his head trying to fight the tears forming in his eyes "I hurt her so many times...the least I can do is bring her home" "You didn't answer my question though, and we kinda knew that you were seeing each other last summer, but since you two never said anything we asume it wasn't serious but by the way you're looking at me right now I think it is" Jughead said with a raised eyebrow and FP looks up with his mouth open, trying to find the words to say "We were...and it started to get serious but...your mom came back and...you've always wanted to have your family back together so I just...ended things with Alice, even if it broke my heart, I couldn't break the promise I made with you, that one day I would get my act together and bring the family back together " FP wipes a tear from his cheek.

Jughead walks to his father and lay a hand on his shoulder "Oh, dad...you could've talked to me, I mean, yes, I always wanted the family back together but not like that, not if that meant that you have to suffer, what a selfish person I am if I only cared about my happiness? I want you to be happy too dad, you deserve it" he says with a soft smile, FP gave him a weak smile. "Dad...you love Alice don't you?" FP nods softly and says "I do Jug, I love her with all my heart and if something happen to her I'm gonna die, I need to find her Jug" tears are streaming down FP's face and Jughead's heart break a little seeing his father so vulnerable "We will find her dad, I promise" Jughead smile and FP smiles back at him. 

That moment is cut short when FP's phones starts to ring, FP grabs it and looks that Charles is the one calling "What's up boy?" "We found her FP, we found Alice" Charles says and FP's eyes grow wide "Re...really? You found her? Where is she? Is she okay?" He starts to get nervous "Calm down FP, we have located the farm, they are in a building outside Centerville, I'm preparing a team to go right now, you're coming?" "Of course I'm coming, I'll see you in 5 minutes" he ends the call and stands up grabbing his jacket "They found the farm, it's on the outside of Centerville" FP says to Jughead "I'm coming with you" he replies "No, it could be dangerous, I want you to go back to the house and stay with Betty and Jellybean ok?" FP says pointing a finger to Jughead, the teen sighs but nods anyway "Okay, I'm going home, call us if you need anything" he says as they both walk out of the office "I will" FP says.

—————

After 45 minutes driving, FP spot and old building at the end of the street, there's a few cruisers parked close to the building and he recognizes Charles car, he stops the car behind the others and gets out of his car, Charles does the same and walks over to him. "So what's the plan?" FP asked "My team and I are going to start evacuating the building floor by floor and trying to find Alice, Polly and Edgar, you can stay here to see if you see them trying to sca-..." "Hell no, I'm coming with you, I need to find her" FP cuts Charles and grabs a bullet proof vest from one of Charle's team.  
They break in and start searching for Alice, floor by floor, room by room, they caught Polly on the first floor and Evelyn trying to escape through a window in the second floor, there's one more floor to go and the roof. FP keeps praying that Alice will be okay, he's not going to give up until he finds her.  
They arrive to the third floor and nothing, not a single soul, all the people had been evacuated outside the building except for Alice and Edgar that there are nowhere to be found until a gunshot breaks the silence in the building and FP's heart stopped.

He runs to the stairs as fast as he can and when he reaches the roof he can see Alice holding a gun and Edgar's limp body on the floor. "Alice?" He calls for her and she turns around. His heart breaks the moment he looks at her, it's clearly that she had lost weight, there's bags under her eyes and she have a big bruise on her cheek and there's a cut on her lip. Edgar is a lucky bastard for being dead right now, he thinks. Alice's eyes widen when she sees him, "FP" she breathed out, he walks over to her and without thinking he pulls her body to his, wrapping his arms around her, "You're alive" he mumbles against her hair, she doesn't want to hug him back but she's so happy to see a familiar face after so long that she doesn't care anymore and holds him for dear life and starts crying, he holds her tighter when he hears her "You're okay now, you're safe" he whispers and pecks multiple kisses against her head.

She relaxes after a few minutes and she feels her body growing heavier and heavier and her eyes are shutting down, FP feels that she's not moving at all anymore and he shakes her a little, "Alice? Hey, are you okay?" She tries to respond but she can't and then she just collapses against FP, he catches her body and screams for help "Hey! Somebody help me! I need an ambulance right now!" He screams and screams until Charles and his teammates appeared and they run towards FP and Alice.  
"What happened? Is she hurt?" Charles kneeled right next to FP, his voice betraying him that he's worried "No, I mean she was okay but then she collapsed against me" FP says with tears falling from his eyes, the sounds of the ambulance catches their attention and Charles team guided the paramedics to the roof "Don't worry FP, she's going to be fine" Charles says to his dad putting a hand on his shoulder, while he is holding Alice's hand for dear life. The paramedics grabs Alice and puts her body in the stretcher while they are checking her pulse and connecting her to the machines.

"Go with her, I'll follow the ambulance with my car and someone from my team can take your car back to Riverdale" Charles says to FP who nods and then hops ups to the ambulance and grabs Alice's hand again. "Do you know what's wrong with her?" FP asks to the paramedic that was checking Alice "Well, she doesn't have a visible wound or something, just a couple of bruises on her body, she looks like she's just dehydrated but they still need to run some tests at the hospital. FP nods softly and feels a little relieved that she doesn't have something serious.

———————

Alice is laying in her hospital bed sleeping, FP is sitting in a chair right next to the bed grabbing her hand, he hasn't let go of her hand since they got there, Betty and Jughead are sitting in a small couch next to the window, FP called them the moment he arrived at the hospital, Charles left an hour ago because he needed to fill all the paperwork from the case and he took Polly to a facility where she is going to get help. Now they are waiting for the doctor, they run multiple tests on Alice and they are waiting for the results.

After a few minutes the doctor knocks on the door and everybody looks up, FP is up in an instant "Is everything okay with Alice?" He asked right away "Yes, Mr. Jones, she doesn't have internal injuries, she's just lost a lot of weight and was dehydrated, probably didn't sleep much too, that's why she was really weak but we are keeping her with fluids for a couple of days so she can get better" the doctor smiles at the teens and FP and the three of them felt a weight lifting from his shoulders the moment the doctor said that Alice was really okay. "Thank you doctor" FP and Betty says and then he leaves the room.

FP sits again in the chair and checks his watch, it's getting late and the visit hours are going to end soon "Kids why don't go back to the house? I can stay with her" FP says, the teens exchange a look "Are you sure Mr. Jones? I can stay with her and you have to go to work tomorrow" Betty replies "I took a few days off so you don't have to worry about that and besides, I need you to check on Jellybean, I don't want her to stay alone in the house" "it's okay, I'm staying with her" Betty nods and grabs Jughead's hand and walk to the door "Goodnight dad" Jughead says and with that the teens leave the room, FP sighs and rest his head against the bed, it's been a long day for him and probably it's going to be a long night too, he turns his head to see Alice and runs his thumb over her knuckles, he's happy that's she's fine but he knows that she's mad with him and it's going to be a long road to recover her trust but he is willing to wait as long as she needs because he doesn't want to screw up this time.

He's so lost in his thoughts that he doesn't feels when Alice stirs in her sleep, just when he hears her murmur something it's when he realizes that she's waking up, he lifts his head and sees her scrunching her eyes "Hey Al, how are you feeling?" He whispers softly to her, still trancing her knuckles with his finger. She registers someone speaking but she can't open her eyes, her eyelids feeling to heavy "Co...cold" she murmurs "Are you cold?" He says and she nods softly "Let me ask the nurse for a blanket" He kisses her hand and looks on the hallway but there's not a single soul there, he doesn't want to leave her alone so he gets back in the room and takes off his jacket and puts it over her, hoping it could warm her up a little.  
After a few minutes he sees her shivering. "Are you still cold?" He asks, already knowing the answer, she nods softly and turns her body in the bed so she's on her side, leaving an empty space on the other side of the bed, he's not sure what to do or if she wants him there with her but he doesn't want her to be cold so he walks to the bed and lays with her, wrapping his arm around her fragile body so he can warm her up, he nuzzles his nose in her hair and delicately pulls her body closer to his chest, he feels her body relaxing immediately, he wasn't planning on staying with her on the bed all night but his eyelids are growing heavier and he can't help it, he falls asleep right there, with Alice in his arms.

He doesn't wake up till the morning when he hears some noise in the room, he opens his eyes slowly and sees Alice fast asleep next to him, he looks up and there's a nurse checking the monitors and writing something, his eyes go wide because he isn't supposed to be in the bed with Alice, he opens his mouth to say something but the nurse raises her hand to prevent him to talk, "it's okay, I'm just checking her vitals" she whispers to him with a smile, FP nods softly "You two make a lovely couple" FP smiles at that, he should tell her that they're not technically a couple but it'll take a while to explain her the whole story so he just thanks the nurse and she leaves the room.  
He looks at Alice again and kisses her head softly, he wants to sleep some more but he knows that the kids can arrive at any moment so he gets up the bed, he's going to grab his jacket but Alice looks so comfortable that he doesn't want to bother her.

10 minutes later and the kids arrive with Charles, "Hey, how is she doing?" Charles is the first to speak, "She's good, she hasn't wake up yet, but her vitals are good" FP says, Betty walks to the bed and grabs her mother's hand "But she's going to wake up, right?" She says worried "Of course she is Betty, she's just resting, god only knows when was the last time she slept or ate, her body needs to recover" FP says offering a smile, Betty nods "Can you guys stay with her for a while? I just want to take a quick shower and change my clothes" FP asks the teens and Charles, Jughead furrows his eyebrows "You're staying again tonight? We can stay here, so you can go home to rest, pretty sure you didn't sleep" "I did slept here and yes I'm staying again, I feel more comfortable if you two are home" "Okay" Jughead says and FP walks to the bed and kisses Alice's forehead, Charles exchanges a look with the teens and then FP walks out the room. "What was that?" Betty asks to the boys and Charles just shrug his shoulders.

The day goes slowly, FP arrives back to the hospital with bags of Pops for the kids and Charles, they thanked him for the food and talked for a while, it was getting late again and Charles took the kids back to the house before he went to his apartment, Alice was sleeping in the middle of the bed so he couldn't cuddle her this time, so he just pulled the chair close to the bed, grabbed her hand and rested his head in the bed, that's how he spent the night.

It's early in the morning when Alice starts to wake up, she opens her eyes slowly and starts looking at her surroundings, she tries to move her hand but she can't so she looks to the side and sees FP fast asleep holding her hand, her breath hitches, she moves her hand out of his grip and he doesn't wake up, "FP...FP" she tries to call his name but he is still sleeping, she rolls her eyes, he's always been a heavy sleeper so she does the only thing she can do in her position...she slaps his head with her hand...

He jumps at the sudden contact, he sits back fully on the chair "What...what happened?" he asks a little disoriented, the moment he opens his eyes completely is when he realizes that Alice is already awake, he swallows and gets closer to the bed again "Hey you're awake, how are you feeling? Do you want water or something?" He asks holding softly her hand again, "I'm fine" she clears her throat "How long did I sleep?" "Almost 48 hours" he pulls her hand to his cheek and kisses her palm "I thought that I lost you for real this time" he says looking at her with tear in his eyes, she doesn't say anything, she just scratches his beard lightly, "where's Betty?" She changes the subject "She's with Jughead at the house, I can call and tell them you're awake, if you want" "That would be great, thanks, uhm...can you get me a glass of water?" "Yeah, of course, let me just go and get some" he smiles at her, he stands up and walks out of the room to get water and call the kids.

She sighs and closes her eyes, she wants to be mad at him but seeing him there, sleeping next to her warms her heart so much. A knock on the door makes her open her eyes again and a nurse walks in, "Ms. Smith, I'm glad that your awake, how are you feeling?" "Good, thanks" Alice replies offering a small smile to her, "Glad to hear that you're feeling better, also you were in good hands, you have a great family and your husband never left your side since you got here" Alice's furrows her eyebrows "I don't have a husband" The nurse opens her eyes wide "Oh, I thought that the man that stayed with you was your husband, my bad" the nurse says "You must be pretty special to him" the nurse smiles at her, Alice opens her mouth to say something but FP returns to the room "Here's your water" FP is a little confused because both girls are looking at him "What?" "Nothing, thanks for the water" Alice says taking the glass from him, the nurse smirks at her "The doctor will be here in a couple of minutes and if everything is fine you can leave the hospital in the afternoon" the nurse says to Alice and leaves the room. 

"I called Betty and Charles, they're on their way" Alice's eyes widened at the mention of their son "So...you met him?" FP walks to the bed and sits next to her, he takes her hand "Yeah, I met him, I arrived from work one day and he was there, he told me you were working with him and he needed my help to find you" "He has your eyes you know" he says looking at their hands intertwined and then at her eyes "I apologized to him because he has my ears" Alice laughs at that "Yes, he does" she looks at him in the eyes and the room felt silent "I should have told you he was alive, I'm sorry" FP shakes his head "No Al, you shouldn't be the one apologizing here" "I'm the one that screwed up everything, I'm the one that is sorry fur hurting you again" he says with tears in his eyes, cupping her cheek with his hand "I'm so sorry" she closes her eyes and rests her head against his palm for a moment "It's okay, I get it" she takes his hand from her face, his heart breaks a little when she does that "I know that you hate me Alice, and I deserve that but I'm gonna do everything in my power to gain your trust again, I promise" she turns her head to the window so he doesn't see the tears forming in her eyes, a knock on the door breaks their moment, both of them turning their heads to the door and they see the kids and Charles entering the room, FP stands up from the bed and Alice quickly wipes away her tears and smiles to Betty "Mom" Betty says softly and walks to the bed "I'm so happy you're okay" "Oh, honey, I missed you so much, I'm sorry for everything I-..." "No mom, you don't have to explain everything, I know why you did it" Betty says grabbing her mom's hands "I missed you too mom" Alice smiles and pulls Betty into a tight embrace, both of the girls with tears falling from their eyes, the boys smile at the sweet moment they're witnessing, "Glad you're okay Ms Smith" Jughead says when they pulled away, Alice smiles at the boy "Thank you for taking care of Betty while I was gone, it means a lot to me" "To all of you actually" Alice says referring to FP and Charles. "You helped me taking down a cult, this was the least I could do" Charles says and FP nods in agreement.

Another knock on the door breaks through and this time the doctor walks in "Ms Smith, glad you're getting better" "Let me check your vitals" the doctor says walking to the bed to check Alice's blood pressure and her eyes "Everything looks fine, in that case we can discharge you right now so you can go home" "Your emergency contact can sign the papers while you change your clothes, is that okay?" The doctor says and Alice nods, "FP? Uhm...can you?" Alice says shyly, FP's eyes widen because he didn't know he was her emergency contact, he nods anyway and walks out the room with the doctor. The kids were clearly confused by that "I bring you some clothes mom, let me help you" Betty says and helps Alice to stand up and going to the bathroom to help her mother change.

Minutes later Alice is dressed with her normal clothes and FP comes back to the room with the papers already signed, "All set, you're ready to go?" FP asks Alice and she nods, then she looks to Charles "Can you call the five seasons and reserve a room for me?" Charles opens his mouth but FP interrupts him "Nonsense, you're staying with us" Alice wants to protest but the way FP is looking at her, almost pleading her to stay with them is enough to make her stayed silent, "Okay, let's go then" Betty says breaking the tense atmosphere between the adults, and with that they all leave the hospital, Charles drives alone because he is going to pick some food at Pops for everyone so FP drives with the kids and Alice back to the house.

When they arrived at the house, Alice opens the door and looks around, everything is almost the same, there are some serpent decorations but not that much, it really looks like her house except for the dining room table, there's an ugly pool table instead, "Where's the table?" Alice questions turning to look at FP and her daughter, FP sighs and takes a 10 dollar bill from his pocket and gives it to Betty, the teen smirks and accepts the money, she knows her mother too well and she was 100% sure that her mother was going to say something about the table so she bet with FP. Alice looks confused at the exchange of money "It's in a storage unit, they are going to bring it back tomorrow, your clothes are already in your room and your other things are in the bathroom" FP says "Thank you FP, for letting us stay here" she offers him a small smile, "This will always be your house" FP says looking at Alice and the room again is filled with tension, the teens exchange looks and they don't know what to do to break this uncomfortable moment, saved by the bell Charles arrives with food, the kids run towards their older brother and helped him with the bags, they put the food in the kitchen counter since they don't have a proper table to eat, Jellybean comes downstairs the moment she smells the food, she walks to the kitchen and sees not all familiar faces "uhm...dad?" All of them turned their heads to the sound of her voice, FP walks to his daughter "Hey honey, there's food in here for you" "Thanks" she walks closer to her dad and whispers in his ear "Who is she?" She says pointing at Alice, she already know Charles so Alice was the only unfamiliar face in the room for her "Alice? Can you come here for a second?" FP calls for the blonde, Alice walks closer to them, "Jells, this is Alice, she's Charles and Betty's mom" Alice shakes her hand "Nice to meet you" "So your Charles mom?" The teen asks when they stopped shaking hands "I am" Alice says with a smile "You're pretty" The teen says and then look at her her dad "So that's why you have sex with her in high school?" The other teens chokes on their food, Charles can't help but laugh at the uncomfortable situation and Alice blushes, FP's eyes go wide "Jellybean!" "What? She's really pretty, I get why you were into her before" the teen says before joining the rest at the counter, FP looks at Alice wanting to apologize to her but she just shakes her head laughing and walks to join the others, FP sighs and thinks...this is going to be interesting...

They made small talk and after they ended eating, Jellybean went to her room, Charles went back to his apartment and the teens went upstairs to get some sleep too, leaving the adults alone. Alice wants to help washing the dishes but FP stops her "You just got out of the hospital, let me do the dishes, go to sleep" he says and she nods but before she can walk upstairs he grabs her arm softly, "Wait...before you go, can...can I talk to you real quick?" He says softly, she wraps her arms around her and nods, "Look Alice, I want you to understand why I did the things that I did, the way I did them, even if you say it's okay, it's not" "I...I never meant to hurt you, I never wanted to make you feel like you didn't matter, the decisions I made, I only made them for my..." "Your kids" Alice interrupts him "You're not the only one that make their kids a priority, I mean...I pretend to be brainwashed to try to save Polly from a cult, while I was working undercover with my son and trying not to push Betty too far at the same time, so I do get it FP, they will always be a priority to us" "But I hurt you, I wish I never hurt you before" FP says softly "I'm getting used to it, I always knew that something was going to happen and you were gonna leave me again, but I thought that...when it happened it was going to hurt less, because it wasn't the first time, but I was wrong...it hurt more, but it's my fault, I'm the one that is letting you in every time" "I guess it's like when you like to eat a bag of candies even though you know that those candies makes you sick, but you do it anyways hoping that maybe, just maybe one day it won't make you sick" Alice chuckles with tears in her eyes "But you live and you learn, and you swear to yourself that you won't make that same mistake again" FP's heart breaks hearing those words "What are you trying to say?" He says with tears falling from his eyes "I'm saying that I can't keep eating those candies FP, because they're going to kill me one day", "I told you that day in your office that when you realized that Gladys was only here for the drugs I wasn't going to be here waiting for you" "If you knew about the drugs then why you didn't tell me?" FP raises his voice a little "Because it wasn't my place to tell! Even Jughead knew about the drugs and he didn't tell you!" "You didn't think that her suddenly coming back was weird?" "And you believed that she wanted her family back together?, she never give a crap about you!" Alice raises her voice too, "When the kids were younger Fred and I were the ones dragging your drunk ass out of the white wyrm multiple times and taking you home while she was out doing god knows what, and your kids were alone at home! I was the one that gave Tom all of the evidence to get you out of jail, I was the one that offered her house to your son, when he was going to a foster home because his mother didn't have enough space for him in Toledo! And besides all of that you still choose her!" She yells at him, tears falling from her eyes, she shakes her head and turns around, wanting to walk upstairs.

"But you're the one that I love" FP chokes out, hoping that opening his feelings for her will stop her from leaving the room, and it works out because she turns around slowly "And you're the one that I love too" she whispers "But right now I need to love me more" "I need to be there for my daughters and Charles" And with that she walks upstairs, FP looks to the floor, wiping his tears with his hand, when he hears the door of her room close more tears fall from his eyes, he rubs his hand furiously through his hair, he's so mad with himself, if only he didn't treated her the way he did in high school, if only he managed things differently when Gladys came back, if only...

He washed the dishes and walks downstairs to the basement, he doesn't even change his clothes he just lays on the couch thinking about everything that just happened.  
It was a sleepless night for both, Alice overthinking what she said, did pushing FP away was the right thing? It's gotta be, she needs to focus on her recovery and her daughters at the moment.  
And for FP things weren't any different, everything she said was true, she always cared for him and how did he paid her back? By hurting her...every single time...

Early in the morning he comes upstairs from the basement after the horrible night he had, and Alice was already there making tea, they crossed looks but neither of them knows what to say, he sighs "Look Alice, I just want to say that you were right, you were right about everything, I wish I could change the past but I can't, and if you don't want to be with me that's okay, I deserve that so don't worry, I won't bother you again" Alice gulps and nods softly, even if she was the one making a line between them his words hurt her a little, and seeing his hopeless face breaks her heart in a million pieces but she needs to be strong. "But I do hope that we can act like civilized people around each other, I don't want to feel an awkwardness between us because you know, we're gonna share this house and our kids are together and Charles is in our lives now so I hope that we can be friends?" he asks softly, she smiles a little "Of course we can" she walks closer and wraps her arms around him hugging him tightly, he holds her too and drops a kiss on top of her head.

The next couple of weeks were as normal as they can be in this family, Betty and Jughead starting senior year, Jellybean going to middle school, Charles visiting them frequently, Alice and FP trying to be friends, pretending that their love for each other wasn't there... 

Alice was reading a book on the couch when Betty arrived from school, she looks up and smiles to her daughter "Hey honey, how was school?" "Good, we almost finished an article for the Blue and Gold" the teen says siting next to her mother "Where's Jughead?" Alice questions "He stayed at school with Archie, he was gonna help him with some things" Alice nods and focus on her book again, Betty looks at her mom and is not sure if she should ask her or not, she decides she will and opens her mouth, "Mom, can I ask you something?" Betty asks nervously, Alice looks up to look at her daughter and says "Sure, what is it?" Betty takes a deep breath, "Are you and FP like friends now?" "Uhm, yes...why do you ask?" "Well...is just that... I thought that when you came back from the farm, you were going to be with him...in a relationship" Alice sighs and shakes her head, "Betty, I can't be in a relationship with him, every single time that we try to get together something happens" "But mom, even if it's weird for me to say this because it's like I'm encouraging you to date my boyfriend's father, it's clearly that the man is crazy for you, we've been living together now for like what? 5 weeks? and every time you walk into the room his face lights up, it's so obvious that he loves you" Alice looks to the floor "I know he loves me, he told me that the night I came from the hospital" "Then why are you not together?" "Because I can't Betty! The only thing he does is hurting me!" Betty raises an eyebrow "The only thing he does? I'm not saying it's not true but are you sure that's the only thing he does? Are we talking about the man that helped us getting rid of a dead body after he just got out of jail? Are we talking about the man that after the black hood was revealed he came here and scared all of those annoying reporters that didn't let us alone while his son was in the hospital? The man that barely slept for weeks when you disappeared with the farm because the only thing he wanted was to bring you home safe? the man that spent the nights at the hospital with you grabbing your hand? Are we talking about the same man, mom?" "What are you so afraid of?" Betty whispers, "That I won't survive another broken heart" Alice says with a lump on her throat and tears in her eyes, Betty takes her mom's hands "Oh mom, I can't promise you that if you try things again with him there won't be hurt, there won't be tears, because the perfect relationship doesn't exist and I'm saying this because I think that you two belong together, that's why you keep finding your way back to him every single time, after horrible marriages, after serial killers, imposters, cults, and now, you are living in the same house as him, and if that's not faith I don't know what it is then" Alice smiles through her tears but narrows her eyes at Betty "Since when did you became a therapist?" Betty laughs "I have no idea" "So...are you going to try again? With FP?" "I'm going to think about it okay? I don't want to jump to any conclusions right away" Betty smiles and wipes her mother's tears "That's okay mom, take all of the time you need, I just want you to be happy" "Thank you Betty, it means a lot to me" Alice says and pulls her daughter to a hug.

Days goes by and Betty's words keep echoing through Alice's mind, she can't help but notice the way FP looks at her whenever she is close to him and those butterflies in her stomach are returning when he smiles at her, or maybe they never left, that stupid smirk, it's making her legs go weak...the thoughts of her wanting to kiss him are multiplying day by day, and she just keeps telling to herself that she can't crave, she needs to be strong.

They are getting closer everyday, even if this wasn't her intention she couldn't help it, she starts flirting with him a little, the way her hand lingers on his knee whenever he says a silly joke, the way she rests her head again his shoulder when they are watching a movie with the kids, FP noticed this little changes on her too, but he's not sure is this is just his imagination and he's too afraid to ask her.

One night he arrives from work and sees the lights in the kitchen on, so he walks and sees Alice drying the dishes, "Hey" he says, she turns and smiles at him, "Hey, I thought that you were going to arrive later, there's a plate with food for you on the fridge" "Thanks, Yeah I thought that it was going to be a longer shift too" He says walks to the fridge to grab the plate, "Where's everybody?" He questions putting his plate in the microwave "Betty is staying over with Veronica and Charles invited Jughead and Jellybean to the Bijou" He smiles "I'm glad they are getting along pretty well" "Yeah, me too" "So...you have plans for tonight?" He asks sitting next to the counter, she laughs "No I don't, I was planning on having a quiet night without the kids, and you?" She says with a raised eyebrow "Nah, it's the first time I arrived home at a decent hour this week, I just want to sleep, plus I look horrible" she smirks "Yeah you do" his jaw drops, he stands up from his chair and walks closer to her, "What did you say Smith?" the distance between them shortening, she walks backwards and laughs nervously "I said...that you look horrible" She looks at him from head to toe, he narrows his eyes at her and keeps walking towards her "And what exactly looks horrible on me right now?" His voice lower than before, she wants to keep walking backwards but her back hits the counter and now she's trapped between FP and the counter, she gulps, "Well, for starters your uniform, that stupid tie looks ridiculous on you" she says running her fingers softly through the tie, he smirks at her, knowing that she's really nervous right now, he takes another step towards her and puts his hands in each side of her, trapping her, "What else you don't like?" He whispers, inevitably looking at her lips, her heart beating so fast, her hands travels from his tie to his beard scratching it, "and your beard, you...you need to trim it" her voice shaking, he leans his head closer to hers "Uhm...What else" he practically growls so close to her lips, her fingers touching now his lips, "And...your lips" she whispers, her thumb pulling down his bottom lip, "they are annoying me so much right now" and with that she grabs his face and glues their lips together, they waited so damn long for this moment, he grabs her hips tightly, pinning her more firmly against the counter and groans against her mouth, she runs her fingers through his hair and moans when she feels his teeth biting her bottom lip, soon his tongue is exploring her mouth and she sighs at the amazing feeling, they kissed for several minutes, even if they want to, neither of them showed signs of taking things further so after a while they pulled away, both breathing heavily and he rests his forehead against hers, her hands resting on his shoulders, she smiles a little "Goodnight Jones" she raises on her tiptoes and presses a lingering kiss on his lips, he takes a step back so she can move and smiles too "Goodnight Smith" She smirks at him and walks upstairs, he can't help but grin like a fool, maybe it wasn't to late for them after all.

The next day FP comes upstairs and finds Betty in the kitchen eating cereal, "Good morning" he smiles to the teen "Good morning Mr. Jones" Betty says raising an eyebrow at his sudden happiness, "Where's your mom?" FP questions serving coffee in a cup "Charles called her and asked her to meet him at his office" "Oh, okay" he's a little disappointed because he wanted to asked her about yesterday, "Do you needed something Mr. Jones?" "No no, I wanted to ask her is she wants something from the grocery store, that's all" FP finishes his coffee and grabs his jacket "I'm going to work now, have a good day at school Betty" "Thank you, you too".

Before he goes to his office he stops at Pops to buy something for lunch, he hops off his car and he's about to open the door when something, actually someone caught his eye inside, it was Alice talking to a man that he didn't know and they were laughing, she cupped the man's cheek and he grabbed her hand and bring it to his lips, then they shared a hug, FP's heart drops at that scene in front of him, he didn't go inside, he turned around and got in his car and drove away.

Inside of Pops Charles came back from the bathroom and smiled at the sight of his boyfriend hugging his mother, they break their embrace and see Charles smiling at them, "Hey babe, I think I'm going to steal your mother from you" his boyfriend, named Jake says, Charles laughs and shakes his head, "I wish I could stay more time to chat but I need to get back to the office" Jake says to them, "Okay, I'll see you later" Charles kisses his cheek, "It was a pleasure to meet you Ms. Smith" Jake says to Alice and hugs her again, "A pleasure to meet you too" Alice replies and Jake leaves the diner, Alice and Charles take a seat in a booth, "So what do you think about him?" Charles asks nervously, Alice grabs his hand "He's an amazing man, plus he is handsome" Alice smirks and Charles laugh "I really like him you know? after the whole thing with Chic I thought that I would never trust a guy before, but Jake is different, I feel so safe when I'm with him and for the first time I can picture my life with someone, I think he's the one" "I'm so glad that you found him honey, and it's clearly that he's crazy for you" Alice squeezes his hand "Thank you, it means a lot" Charles smiles to his mother for a moment and then he gets serious, Alice raises her eyebrow "What's wrong?" Charles sighs before he speaks, "Do you think FP will be okay with me being...gay?" "Oh honey, that's why you wanted to tell me first? Because you think he might be against you being gay?" Alice says and Charles nods softly, she shakes her head "Your father loves you no matter who you decides to love, I'm pretty sure he won't have a problem with that, he's not like that, I promise" Alice wipes a tear from his cheek "Before I introduce Jake with FP do you think you could..talk with him about this?" Charles asks, Alice smiles and nods "Of course honey, I'll talk with you father" Charles smiles, "How are things going between you guys?" Alice sighs "It's complicated, we're getting closer, not gonna lie, and uhm, we may had a moment yesterday but we haven't spoke about it yet" Alice blushes and now it's time for Charles to smirk, "I'm not saying this because you are my parents but I do hope things can be fixed between you guys, I know I don't know the whole story but I think that he is your Jake".

Later that day Alice arrives home and luckily FP is there, her heart starts beating faster, she want to talk about their kiss yesterday and about Charles.   
She walks to the living room where he is watching TV, "Hey" she says softly, he looks up and just gives her a simple nod, Alice furrows her eyebrows "Is everything okay?" "Yeah, why wouldn't it be?" He says looking at the TV. "Uhm okay...uhm...can we talk?" He shakes his head, turns off the TV and stands up "Save it Alice, I know what you're going to say and I don't want to hear it, I don't want to hear that you find someone else and and that you are going to move out soon, so save it" He says clearly upset, Alice is more confused that before "What the hell are you talking about?" She raises her voice, "Don't lie to me Alice I saw you at Pops with that man getting handsy and smiling at each other, I thought that we had a moment yesterday, that I could finally granted the promise I made to Fred, but clearly I was wrong" Tears are falling from his eyes now, he walks to the table and grabs his car keys and walks to the door, "Wait you got it all-" he slams the door before she finished that sentence "wrong" she whispers, she sighs clearly confused and annoyed by his words, she knows how hot headed he gets so she decides to give him a few minutes before she goes to look for him.

After 30 minutes she drives to the place where she knows she'll find him, and after a few minutes driving she arrives at sweet water river and sees his truck parked there, she hops off her car and walks that way, he's there leaning against the back of his truck looking at the river, when he hears noise he turns his head, it's clearly that he had been crying, she walks closer to him and he looks to the floor, she tilts his head so she can look at him and he open his mouth to say something but before he can say a word she grabs his face and kisses him hard, he's surprised but the feeling of her lips against his is something he would never get enough of so he wraps his arms around her waist to pull her closer, she breaks the kiss and leans her forehead with his "You're an idiot Jones, you got it all wrong" she whispers, he pulls away lightly maintaining his grip on her waist, she's playing with his little curls at the back of his head, looking him in the eyes, "That man you saw with me...his name is Jake, and he's our son's boyfriend" His eyes go wide at the revelation "Charles was just introducing him to me, that's why I wanted to talk to you" he sighs slightly embarrassed because he thought the worst, "So he's Charles boyfriend?" FP questions and Alice nods "He wanted to introduce him to me first because he was afraid of your reaction of him being gay" she says scratching his beard, FP furrows his eyebrows "But I don't have a problem with that at all and besides, I already had my suspicions, but I don't care if he's gay, I just want him to be happy, he deserves it" Alice smiles at that "He really does" he kisses her forehead and sighs "I'm sorry for the way I treated you in the house, is just that...the idea of you with another man literally kills me" she wraps her arms around his neck "I don't want another man FP" she says looking at him in the eyes, he smiles, she pecks a kiss to his lips, the look on her face changes after they pulled away, "What's wrong?" He questions "Nothing is just that...at the house you said that you were going to finally granted a promise you made to Fred, what promise was that?."

She asked him with curious eyes, he looks at her for a moment and then he looks at the floor, he sighs and say "Last year, when we were figuring out things between us, I went to Pops with him for lunch and we were talking about everything...about sports, about our kids and then he asked me about you, he asked me what was going on between us and I told him that we were trying to figure things out because we didn't want to rush things" "And then he shake his head and he looked me in the eyes and said:" "Life is too short FP, you don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, I want you to be happy so I want you to promise me something, if you love her, you tell her, even if you're scared that is not the right thing, even if you're scared it will cause a problem, even if you're scared it'll burn your life to the ground, you say it and you say it loud and then you go from there." 

Tears are forming in their eyes, he grabs her hands in his and looks at her, "He said that, so I promised him that I was going to tell you, so I called you and we made plans for the next day but...Gladys came back that day" he says looking at the floor for a second "I wanted to tell you so bad Al" "And then I was an idiot and then you disappeared with the farm and I was so scared that I would never had a chance to tell you how much you mean to me, and after you came back I've been waiting for the perfect moment to tell you this because we're getting closer again, but today when I saw you hugging Jake, smiling at him, I thought that I failed to Fred because that chance of telling you everything it was never going to happen, because I thought that maybe it was all in my head and that I don't deserve you and that I should just have to let you go"

Alice shakes her head and takes a step closer to him, he cups his cheeks with her hands "Well you have a chance now, so tell me everything that you want" she says wiping a tear that fell from his eye with her thumb, he puts his hands on her waist and pulls her body closer to his, he takes a deep breath before he speaks, "You are the love of my life Alice, you don't have an idea how much I love you" his arms around her waist tighten "You're the first person I want to see when I wake up and the last one I want to see before I fall asleep, I want to take you out to dinner or bowling or to a picnic. Your lips are the only ones I want to kiss, you're the one that I want to make love to for the rest of my life, holding you in my arms, protecting you from everything, I know that you think that I may be bad for you but I'm going to prove it to you everyday that I'm not, I want you to have faith in us" "I want everything with you Alice, through good times and bad times, I want you".

She smiles at him through her tears and closes the gap between them and smashes her lips with his again, "I love you too FP, I love you so much" she says between kisses and he is so happy to hear those words leaving her lips, the kisses grow more passionate and he hoists her up and turns around so she's sitting now in his truck, her hands running through his hair and her ankles pushing his body closer to hers and his hands running all over her body. They pulled away after a while and she grabs his face with her hands, "Lets go home" She pecks a soft kiss to his lips, he nods and helps her hop off the truck.

They arrive home and all of the kids are watching a movie with Charles, they walk hand in hand towards the living room, Betty is the first one that notices that and looks at her mom smiling, "So are you two...?" Alice looks at FP and smiles "Yes, we are" FP says and wraps his arms around her waist from behind "I'm really happy for you guys" Charles says standing up and walking towards his parents and hugging them and then the rest of the kids joined to hug their parents "Thank you guys, it really means a lot to us that you're okay with this" Alice says, "If you guys are happy, we're happy too" Betty says and the other ones nod, "But please, we don't want another sibling so, you know...be careful" Jughead replies earning a slap from Betty and Jellybean on his arms, Alice chuckles along with FP.

They talked for a while about trivial things as a family and then the teens excused themselves to go to Archie's house and Jellybean went to her room to play Minecraft, Charles was putting his jacket getting ready to go too when FP came closer to him, "Charles?" He turns around to look at his father, "Yeah?" "Uhm, your mom told me about Jake and I just want you to say that I don't care who you love, if it's a boy or a girl, I just want you to be happy and you should never feel afraid of telling me something okay? I love you and I hope that one day you could trust me with everything" Charles eyes watered at the sweet words of his dad, "Thank you" was all that Charles managed to say before FP pulled him into a tight embrace, Alice watching them from the kitchen with tears in her eyes, when the men ended their embrace FP puts his hands on his shoulders "I hope that one day I can meet Jake" Charles nods smiling "Yeah I would love that, maybe next weekend?" "Perfect" Alice joins them and say "We're so happy for you honey" "Thank you" Charles smiles and grabs his belongings "I should probably get going but I call you tomorrow" he says to his parents, they nod and hug their son again and with that Charles leaves the house.

Alice turns to FP and wraps her arms around his neck, he puts his arms around her waist, "We have a pretty good kid huh..." FP says rubbing his nose with hers "We have tons of those" Alice says and FP laughs "Yeah, we do" he pecks a kiss to her lips "I love you so much Alice" he breaths against her lips, she smiles and bites the tip of her tongue, "I love you so much more" she presses her lips against his "Take me to bed" she mumbles against his lips, his hands travelled to the back of her thighs and he hoist her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist, "Mhm" he mumbles against her neck, walking upstairs with the love of his life in his arms...

**Author's Note:**

> This is the longest I have written in my life, I really hope that Falice have a happy ending in season 5 because they deserve it. ❤️


End file.
